Why did Fu Wei secretly go up the mountain to farm paddlefish?

He was farming a kind of fish that many local people had never seen, and it kept people exclaiming in surprise. His fish-farming methods drew a lot of skepticism. He left his family behind and hid deep in the mountains - what was really going on, and what business opportunity had he actually discovered in this fish that many local people had never seen?

This is the Fengting Lake Reservoir. When the reporter came to this reservoir to interview Fu Wei, he happened to be organizing tourists to visit his cage fish-farming base.

Fu Wei: Wait a moment. When we go over to the base, don't run around, and pay attention to safety.

Fu Wei told the reporter that many people had never seen the fish he was farming here. To promote these fish, Fu Wei often held events at the farming base.

Fu Wei: So do you want to take a look? Let's all take a look together, okay?

Tourist: Okay.

Fu Wei: All right, we're pulling up the net now.

As soon as these fish surfaced, the scene erupted in exclamations.

Tourist: I see it, I see it, over there, what a big one.

Fu Wei: Have you ever seen such a strange fish?

Tourist: No, first time.

Tourist: Wow, this is fun.

The appearance of this fish aroused everyone's curiosity and speculation.

Tourist: Like a shark.

Reporter: Like what?

Tourist: A shark.

Tourist: Like a duck.

Tourist: Its mouth is so pointy, completely different from other fish.

The scientific name of the fish Fu Wei farms is paddlefish (Polyodon spathula). Because it has a long snout, people also call it duckbill fish. Not only does it look strange, it is also a very ancient species, from the same era as the dinosaurs, and it has survived on Earth for more than 200 million years.

Today, Fu Wei organized a contest at the reservoir fish-farming base. Whoever caught the biggest fish within 10 minutes could take home the paddlefish they caught for free.

Fu Wei: Are you ready?

Fu Wei: 1, 2, 3, go.

Tourist: Come here, come here, come here.

Paddlefish have especially smooth skin and swim very fast in the water, so they are not easy to catch.

Tourist: Hard to catch, too slippery, I don't know how to catch it, can't catch it.

Fu Wei joined in personally to teach everyone how to catch this kind of paddlefish.

After Fu Wei's demonstration, someone figured out the trick and was the first to pull out a paddlefish.

Reporter: How did you catch it?

Tourist: I grabbed its mouth, and just pulled it up.

Tourist: Who's going to compete for the biggest one?

Everyone was catching fish with great enthusiasm, but Fu Wei suddenly shouted loudly.

Fu Wei: Hold it vertically, vertically, that fish can't be lifted horizontally, it'll break its bones.

It turns out that a paddlefish has no bones throughout its body except for one bone in the snout, which is used to send signals and find food. Then there is a flexible notochord running from head to tail. If you lift it horizontally, it can easily break its bones.

After 10 minutes, everyone had caught something. According to the contest rules, the tourists went to the shore to weigh their fish and select the champion.

Reporter: Who is the champion?

Tourist: Me, who else, it's me.

Reporter: How big is your fish?

Tourist: It's five jin and two liang. Tonight I'll take it home and steam it. It's quite novel, how could there be this kind of fish? I heard it's delicious, so I came to try it.

Fu Wei packed the champion's prize in an oxygen bag.

Fu Wei: Come claim your prize, it's packed now.

This five-jin-two-liang fish sells for 380 yuan on the market. Fu Wei has 15,400 sq m of cages, all farming paddlefish. In 2015, paddlefish sales reached more than 4 million yuan.

But 6 years ago, precisely because of farming paddlefish, Fu Wei did many things that made people question him, and his family faced a crisis because of it. Some villagers even thought he was crazy. So what business opportunity did Fu Wei actually see in paddlefish? All of this goes back to 2011.

During the 2011 Spring Festival, everywhere there were scenes of family reunions and joyous celebration, but Fu Wei's wife looked worried, because she found her husband's behavior very abnormal, and he often stayed out and did not come home.

Wife: I called to find him. I asked where he was, and he would say training, training employees, or holding an exhibition. When I called him again, he said he was discussing something with someone, that he was busy, busy, and he hung up right away.

At first his wife did not take it to heart, but gradually she realized that being unable to reach Fu Wei had become the norm.

This situation continued for several months. Not only did his wife begin to suspect something, even their 5-year-old daughter sensed that something was wrong.

Wife: My child kept asking, Mom, why hasn't Dad come? Does Dad not want us anymore? Usually, no matter how busy he was with work, he would come back to see the child, but at that time he didn't come back at all. And at that time I also wondered whether something had happened, and what on earth was going on.

Fu Wei: Anyway, the rice was already cooked. Whatever anyone said, it could only be like this. I felt it was quite an embarrassing thing at the time.

What unspeakable secret did Fu Wei actually have?

Fu Wei was born in 1984 in Hepu County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. His family was poor from childhood. His father went out to sea to fish, and his mother dug sandworms to support Fu Wei and his three siblings through school.

In 2004, Fu Wei graduated from Guangxi Armed Police Nanning Command School, majoring in public security. After that, he worked in the mobile phone communications industry in Beihai City, rising from an ordinary salesperson to a sales supervisor, with a monthly salary of over ten thousand yuan. In 2010, his wife returned to her parents' home in Shangsi County, Fangchenggang City. Fu Wei, who worked in Beihai City, returned to Shangsi County every so often to visit his family. But after the 2011 Spring Festival, Fu Wei suddenly stopped coming home. And he disappeared for 8 months. What exactly had he gone to do?

Fu Wei: I'll show you now the house I lived in when I first came up the mountain.

Fu Wei: Now, come, you can take a look.

Fu Wei: It's already dilapidated inside now.

Reporter: Such a small space?

Fu Wei: It's just a bit low, but at least I could sleep, and not being rained on was already satisfying enough. I spent nearly more than a year here.

It turned out that after the 2011 Spring Festival, Fu Wei quit his job without telling his family and hid alone deep in this mountain, brewing plans to do something big.

Fu Wei: If I had told them, I might not even have had the chance to come here. They would definitely have stopped me. Then all my dreams would have been shattered. I was certain that this thing could make me earn more money.

The purpose of Fu Wei hiding in the mountain was that he had set his sights on this Fengting Lake Reservoir on the mountain. The water here is clear and suitable for aquaculture. Fu Wei wanted to farm fish here, but what made everyone think he was crazy was that his way of farming fish was truly different from others. To show the reporter one characteristic of this fish, Fu Wei dived into the water and caught a fish.

Reporter: Wow, I see it.

Fu Wei: Got it.

Reporter: Is it easy to catch?

Fu Wei: It's okay, because it's a fish without scales. It has a layer of slime, so it's very smooth, and it swims quite fast.

This is the fish Fu Wei farms, scientific name paddlefish, also called duckbill fish. The reporter became interested in the paddlefish's big mouth.

Reporter: It's really big. Can I put my fist inside?

Fu Wei: Sure, you can try.

Reporter: Will it bite me?

Fu Wei: No, because this fish is quite docile.

The paddlefish's mouth can easily accommodate the reporter's fist. It has no teeth in its mouth, but many brush-like villi, and its gills are very well developed, seeming to connect with the outside like an openwork structure.

In 2010, by chance, Fu Wei discovered paddlefish on the internet and was immediately attracted by its strange appearance. He then consulted a large amount of information combined with market research. After the 2011 Spring Festival, Fu Wei spent 20,000 yuan to introduce 2,000 fry from Hunan and began experimenting with fish farming. But from the very first day he went into the mountain to farm fish, he was labeled a madman.